[Transport] Surprise Transit Strike Hits Toronto

[Glenn A. Walsh]

Although public officials and the media had assured
Toronto residents that the local transit union would
probably accept a new 3-year contract, agreed-to by
union negotiators, the union rank-and-file rejected
the pact and immediately went on strike Saturday
morning. All Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) subways,
streetcars, and buses are out of service for a city
with a population of 2.48 million (metro area
population of 5 million).

Ontario provincial legislators are now scrambling to
draft and approve legislation that will force transit
workers back to work by Monday morning rush-hours.
They expect the provincial legislature to meet on
Sunday and approve back-to-work legislation.

The contract was rejected by 65 per cent of the 9,000
members of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113,
which includes maintenance employees and mechanics who
had voiced concern over job security issues in the
contract.

Through the entire negotiations, the union had
promised that there would be 48 hours-notice before
any labor walkout, a promise that was not kept. The
union management claimed that transit operators had
received increased threats from passengers, a
situation that they felt could escalate to violence if
the 48-hour notice had been given. Hence, they chose
to go immediately into the strike.

You can read more about the Toronto transit strike
from articles in the city's two newspapers and two
national newspapers based in Toronto, at this link:

<
http://andrewcarnegie2.tripod.com/transit/pat/2007fundingcrisis.html#tnews2
>

In Pittsburgh, business groups, such as the Pittsburgh
Chamber of Commerce and the Allegheny Conference for
Community Development, have advised their members to
begin planning for a possible Port Authority Transit
strike later this year. A letter sent out to members
by the Chamber of Commerce, in March, was highlighted
by a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review story on March 4:

<
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/search/s_555366.html
>

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Glenn A. Walsh
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